The status of world agriculture
- employs more than one billion people
- the biggest consumer of ever scarcer water
- huge producer of greenhouse gas emissions
Needed
Investment in water saving technology for food production and fresh water conservation to reverse a 70 percent of 
water withdrawals and 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, much of that from developing countries.
The agricultural business accounts for one trillion dollars of the global economy.
Small farmers who dominate the industry would be the key
to maintaining food supplies for the world’s estimated one billion hungry people.
Recent studies have shown that increasing food production of barley, corn, millet, oats, rice, rye, sorghum and wheat increased by nearly 55 percent are not reducing hunger in the world.
“From 1980 to 2009, developing countries need investment to make them less dependent on food imports and international markets. They should put more emphasis on small scale and less intensive farming, the report said.
Finally governments are reinvesting in agriculture and giving priority to small-scale producers.
“They are recognizing the important role of women, infrastructure, safety nets, and local markets,” it added. “All 
this holds great potential for eradicating hunger.”
Worldwatch Institute, the author of this report, warned that with nearly seven billion people now in the world, and an increase of up to 40 percent expected by 2050, governments still need to take urgent action.
Our current agricultural practices exacerbated by increasing population, and further economic growth, will add up to sharply higher global demand for food, feed, and fiber and to higher meat consumption,” said the report.
Resources
Excerpts courtesy of http://bit.ly/gZLFRK
Image 1. courtesy of http://bit.ly/eLxtNl
Image 2. courtesy of http://bit.ly/fnaZdc
